Marco Silva: Fulham head coach 'cannot understand' how Ipswich's Leif Davis avoided red card in Premier League draw

Marco Silva slammed referee Darren Bond and said he "cannot understand" how Leif Davis avoided a red card for a last-player foul in Ipswich's draw at Fulham.

Davis tripped Harry Wilson as the Fulham winger ran through on goal in the first half of the rollercoaster 2-2 draw but was shown only a yellow card by Bond before a VAR review agreed Ipswich's Dara O'Shea was close enough to cover - meaning Davis had not denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

Fulham were in full control of the game at that point in a high-tempo opening half-hour but ended up having to twice come from behind from the spot to cancel out goals in either half from Sammie Szmodics and a Liam Delap penalty took the wind out of their sails.

Silva's side extended their unbeaten run to eight games after Raul Jimenez's last-minute spot kick rescued a point but the head coach fumed at Bond for denying them the advantage that an extra player for more than an hour would have given.

"I cannot understand it," he said. "It is clear. When Harry Wilson touches the ball, without the tackle he will be one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

"They found a way to explain to us that a player is a little bit close and can cover. OK, I don't see it that way but that's the decision. You cannot control that.

"We had a red card with Tom Cairney against Tottenham last month awarded by VAR. Last week we had Ryan Christie's situation for Bournemouth. It's hard to understand why one is a red card and the other isn't.

"What I can control is not giving away the goals that we did, not giving away the penalty as we did. Of course, the emotions of the game can happen. At half-time the players were not understanding the decisions from the referee, all 50-50s were not in our favour. But that can happen.

"Just as we can have some disappointing moments, the referee can have a really disappointing performance like he had in my opinion."

Silva was little more impressed with Bond's role in Fulham's first equaliser, with the well-placed referee waving away the hosts' penalty claims before VAR sent him to the monitor and he overturned his decision.

"The first penalty, we can all agree it is a clear penalty," he said. "The referee was in a top position to decide. It was the VAR which called him to give it. All three penalties were clear."

Beyond the referee's performance, Silva conceded his side had lost their "emotional control" of the game after Szmodics' opener but praised their fighting spirit for keeping their unbeaten run alive.

"About ourselves, we are disappointed with the performance," he said. "It was a very good first 30 minutes, the game was completely under control. We two, three chances to score but there was not much for them. We were winning the ball high up and not allowing their quick players to counter. Before 1-0 they didn't create anything.

"But then we lost control after conceding the first goal. It was too soft and it was the same story in the last game against Bournemouth.

"We lost emotional control. The referee's decisions did not help but we should have kept control. In the end the fighting spirit was there, we showed character to equalise.

"If someone should have won, it should have been us. We created more chances, we were more on the front foot."

VidSport Live' Daniel Sturridge:

"Whether the advancing defender would've got back, it's touch and go. We've seen them given and on the other side you've seen a yellow.

"He definitely denies a goal-scoring opportunity, I think he would've got to the ball but whether the defender would have allowed him to shoot or not is another thing."

VidSport Live' Roy Keane:

"If the ball was going straight you'd think he's going to get it. But the angle of it, the defender's got a chance. It is just about the right decision. But it's a close one."

VidSport Live' Ron Walker at Craven Cottage:

"I can see why Marco Silva would be aggrieved. The ball is moving towards Dara O'Shea but you could see Harry Wilson getting to it before him and being clean through.

"But it's so tight that once Darren Bond makes up his mind, VAR isn't going to step in."

Jimenez's double took him to 55 Premier League goals to become Mexico's all-time Premier League scorer, two clear of former Manchester United and West Ham striker Javier Hernandez.

There was a time when the 33-year-old appeared he would never fully recover from a nine-month lay off with a fractured skull suffered during a game in November 2020 and he went 35 Premier League matches without a goal in the final days of his career at Wolves and his first 10 games at Craven Cottage.

But since ending that record in November 2023 he has gone on to score 15 league goals for Silva in barely a year and has already exceeded his scoring tally from last season mid-way through 2024/25.

"It's an incredible achievement," said Silva. "I'm really pleased for him. We all know that he had a really bad moment, not just in his career but in his life. For sure it was the worst moment in his life.

"We trusted him because he was really down when we signed him. We showed him that trust and it's really paying off.

"In the first two or three months he wasn't scoring and everyone was asking why we took the decision to bring him in. He kept working really hard and it's really nice to see him achieve an incredible number.

"It should be an honour for a Mexican player to achieve these kind of numbers and he will be in history for many years. I'm not sure how long it will be before someone can match his numbers.

"I'm here to help him and the team is, like he helped us today. Not just with his goals but how he fought for the team, how he adapted after Rodrigo Muniz came on."

Fulham hold the option of extending Jimenez's contract for another year before it expires at the end of June and Silva offered a strong hint that the Mexican would be staying in west London for at least another 12 months following his seventh and eighth goals of the season.

"We have to keep talking with him," he said. "It's not going to be a problem - everything is in our hands, he has shown his quality every single week and every single training session.

"Raul doesn't need to be concerned about a new contract."